I’m sure I answered this long ago, but now that I’m expecting #1, I can give a more definitive answer! [name_u]Baby[/name_u] is due 6 weeks before I turn 27!
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I hope to have my first at around 21 or 22, a little young but whatever 
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32! Honestly thought I’d be significantly older - things worked out for us quicker than expected. It has opened up the possibility of having more, eventually, although I do have to wait at least 18 months to fully heal from my c-section. The idea of having another child to love (and name 
) is exciting, but we’ll see where we are in 2 years.
This was almost the earliest possible time we could have had children. I was firmly
childfree and didn’t want children in my early 20s, and I was close to 30 when I knew for sure that I had changed my mind.* We would have been in a terrible situation financially as well if we had had a child earlier because I spent my mid to late 20s working on my PhD, and we were barely scraping by on one full-time income plus my part-time teaching and occasional research gigs. Financial security isn’t everything, but living in a safer neighbourhood and having enough money to buy things that make life more convenient definitely translate to less stress!
While planning to conceive, we also had the opportunity to spend a couple of years researching all things under the sun and had a lot of time to discuss what we wanted our parenting to look like, and settling into motherhood is going pretty smoothly thanks to that.
I’m not saying you can’t be a wonderful parent when you’re a lot younger or that you’re automatically more mature and ready once you hit 30 - that’s not what I think at all. I just wanted to reiterate what some other Berries have already said here: having a child when you’re “older” really isn’t all doom and gloom! I’m a happier, healthier person both physically and mentally now than I was in my 20s, so it was just the right time for me. 
Could we have coped with the challenges a couple of years ago if we needed to? Yeah, but we’re in a much better place now. 
(My wife is actually still in her late 20s, so I guess these musings mostly apply to me. )
*I feel the need to say this whenever I bring this up: I don’t want to reinforce the narrative that all women want to become mothers and will change their mind as they get older. I have friends who are as happily childfree in their 30s and 40s as they were in their 20s. It was hurtful when people back in the day kept insisting that it was inevitable that I’d change my mind - it isn’t inevitable at all, my life just worked out that way. I’m a different person now than I was in my early 20s but that person still had thoughts and feelings that mattered and she deserved to have her decisions respected, just like expect people to respect my decision to have a child now.
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I was 33 when we conceived, then 34 when my first was born. I would looooove to have one more babe, maybe at 36-38. DH had a child from a prior relationship and is beyond good with the 2. (I would have been about a month shy of 28 when my stepson was born, DH is 2 years older) It’s a very touchy subject right now at our house because I’m ready to start trying and he is not and feels he never will be 
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I was one of those people who wanted to get married young and started having kids soon after (like… between 22 to 25, maybe?). Life turned out very different though than what I have planned for myself. I know there are a lot of wonderful young parents who managed, but in my case, looking back to when I was that age there was no way I could support a child. I was dealing with depression and also not in a secure, long-term relationship. I am now 29, engaged, and planning to try after we get married. If I have my way this time I’ll have my first baby at 31, but we’ll see.
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Still a long time before I have kids but would love to have at 24 that if I am stable financially and already married but likely won’t happen is that is just over two years away.
Currently 22 weeks, I’ll be 20 and my boyfriend will be nearly 21. Super young and definitely didn’t plan on being parents so young(although i did want to start at around 24/25) but things happen and it was clearly in the stars for us. Happy that I’m not doing it alone and that my boyfriends job is stable enough where I can stay home once baby girl is born! happy to hear any advice from other mamas younger or older 
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Currently pregnant with my first child & I’m 28. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband is 26. We’re considered to be rather young parents where we live, but both my husband & I own two homes & have financially stable careers so I feel confident about being a good age ! 
TRIGGER WARNING (pregnancy loss)
However, I lost a pregnancy when I was 20, actually a day before my 21st birthday. I was with my Australian then-fiancé. It was unplanned, I was in school a half the world away from my [name_u]French[/name_u] hometown, but I was determined to be a mother when I learned I was pregnant despite the surprise. I had been far enough along to learn the gender. Her name was going to be [name_f]Leila[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]. I feel strange considering my current pregnancy to be my “first child” because [name_f]Leila[/name_f] is still in my heart. She was & is my girl. (I’m sorry if this topic isn’t allowed here ; I can edit it out. I just don’t feel right saying this is my first.)
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Fell pregnant with #1 at 22, gave birth at 23. I’m pregnant with #2 now and I’m 25, I will be 26 when they’re born.
We are TTC our first so ideally I will be 28 (I’m 27 now). Fingers crossed!
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I will be 30 or over. Been trying almost 3 years and still nothing but not giving up.
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omg Good luck!!
I’m not pregnant now, but I would like to try within the next couple of years. So ideally 27-29 for my first child.
I was 33 for my first. 35 for my second and 37 for my third. I didn’t get married until I was 31… secretly hope there will be a fourth but have to wait and see!
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17, not planned and I was the last girl in school they expected to fall pregnant, but after a year of really s*** events I made a couple bad decisions and we’ll.
# 2 I was 18, two weeks away from 19. She was planned because we were financially in a position, and wanted our oldest to have a sibling close in age.
# 3 is in the sky but I would be 20
Definitely waiting till my mid to late twenties then we want two more with a similar age gap to my oldest, but we’ll see where life takes us.
I would have started having children at 16 if I could have. I’m the type of person that didn’t like or do well in school and I’ve never wanted a career. But I am excellent with children and love them sooooo much! When I met my husband in high school when we were 17, I was over the moon because I knew he was the one! All I have ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. It’s everything to me. Life did not work out that way though and has been quite rough. We are both 31 now and on our way to becoming parents, hopefully next year. As awfully bitter as it is, we are both quite relieved and somewhat grateful that we didn’t have a child earlier during the worst, upending years of our lives. The storm is over now and we both have babies on our minds! 
I’m so excited.
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I was pregnant at 24 and had my son at 25. I feel like it was a perfect age for me, not too old not too young.
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- 33 for my last one.
I was 27 with my first, 31 with my second.
I’ll be 31 for my first. So happy to have waited until my 30s!
Interestingly, the average age for a first-time mother in the US is 25 but is 31 here in Australia.
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